Slab Blocks

In 2015-2016, my guild decided we would do a couple of block swaps.  The first one was fake but the second one was a real block swap/lottery.

We made Slab Blocks, which are in Cheryl Arkison's and Amanda Jean Nyberg's
book a Month of Sundays.  Cheryl had shared on her blog the process for making them.  They are basically monochromatic scrap blocks, each block was an entry into the draw.  And we made so many blocks that there were 2 draws for 12 blocks, and I think even a 3rd draw for a smaller set.

I won!    And then the blocks sat and sat....until this summer, when I was working on another scrappy project, and I pulled them out.  I made 4 more blocks, to make a top 60x60.  I played with the layout a bit, and decided I could kind of make these diagonal rows of colors, so that helped me to decide which color blocks I needed to make for my extras.

 And I had quilted a client quilt with this straight-ish randomly spaced lines, and wanted to do one like that again, so I got it quilted right away--and the binding on the front....and then my hands went wonky and I've not gotten the binding hand stitching done, but thought I'd share the quilt anyway, so ignore the binding sticking up every which way.

 Above is the block I made and put in the swap--it was fun to make, and fun to look at, as I used as many scraps from the 100 Modern Quilt blocks quilt as I could. 

 This blue block was one of the extras I made--scraps from so many quilts in there....same with the red one below.  I can start to see the appeal scrap quilts have for quilters. 

 And the backing was fabric I had intended to back my Grandma's quilt with, but didn't actually have enough. 

I used wool batting, so got lovely texture from the quilting.  I will look forward to snuggling under it once I get the binding finished.

Jen Kingwell BOM

Linda made this Jen Kingwell BOM, called Long Time Gone. 
 When she brought it to me, she wanted some edge to edge quilting....but this Quilt and I had discussions for a few weeks, as it was left laying across my frame when I was unable to quilt.  

Linda had wanted wavy crosshatch across the whole quilt, but my challenge was the scale of the piecing varied so much from section to section.  That, plus the discussions the Quilt and I were having.....so this is what the two of us (the Quilt and I) came up with--simple, freehand, as continuous as possible, custom quilting to honor the incredible amount of time Linda spent piecing, with plenty of wavy crosshatch as per Linda's vision. 

And now the real reason you are here....

 Look below--do you see it?  I didn't see it until Linda came to pick up her quilt--I missed some quilting.  So Linda only got to visit her quilt that day, and had to leave it with me so I could add that missing line of stitching.

 I was so very pleased that Linda had chosen wool batting--it sure allows the texture to pop.

 We (Q and I), decided that the grey strips needed to be left unquilted, a place for the eyes to rest between block segments.

New York State of Mind

 This is Noreen's New York State of Mind quilt, and it received a light custom quilting treatment.

 I love how 3-D it looks,

300th post: Cut in Triangles

I find that somewhat amazing, but I guess it has been  6 years of blogging.

I thought for this 300th post, and since this is the 10th anniversary of this quilt, I'd share my first ever frame quilted quilt.

I had been walking through the north location of A Sewing Sensation with my hands held up to my face like blinders, so I couldn't see their frame quilting systems, but one day I was weak, and my blinders slipped.  And, I had this large top to quilt, that I had promised youngest would be ready for her birthday....

Came home and discussed with my husband, and we decided it was worth the investment if I did 30 quilts over the next 10 years. And a day or two later... here's my new 9" Husqvarna on a Grace Frame--it truly was an entry level setup.

this is it!  my first quilt on a frame quilting system.  I was naive.  I didn't know that I should do some practice pieces first.  I had a homemade paper pantograph to put hearts in that narrow turquoise border (top half in one direction and bottom half in the other--from the back of the machine, where you cannot see if you're matching your prior point)--I had no idea this was supposed to be hard!   I used contrasting thread on the white!   I had adjusted some butterfly designs to fit into my setting triangles, and my border blocks, and used the laser light from the front to stitch those in.   I had all these new options at my fingertips and I was going to use them!!
 I would have even needed to turn the quilt to do the side borders, and possibly even the bottom border, as my stitching path had probably gotten too narrow by then.

 I would have had to split this design, and stitch it in two passes--it was only a 9" machine, so at most I had a 6" pass right at the very top of the quilt.

Not too shabby for an absolute beginner?     I see I didn't photograph the hearts LOL. 


and wisely I decided to just meander in the center of the quilt

 I found a photo of those hearts after all, they look pretty good.  I even remembered to turn the panto around so they all point out.

 The quilt is called Cut in Triangles, because youngest always placed her breakfast order as follows:  toast, peanut butter and jam, cut in triangles, cold (which meant not toasted at all ).  I stitched the 'label' right on with the font on my sewing machine.

This quilt is still one of my favorites.  I learned how to modify a pattern (I added the on point borders), figured out the math for making the on point pieced border fit, my first time making a quilt that was all triangles, and using setting triangles, and my first frame quilted quilt!

As it turned out, I quilted 30 quilts in the first year of having that Husqvarna Mega Quilter, and before long I was walking through quilt shows with my blinders up while walking past longarms.

After 3 1/2 years I  sold the Husqvarna and about 6 months later I was able to replace it with an Innova in December of 2011,  and the rest of the tale has taken place in the past 300 blog posts.

Nine Patch Rails

Noreen made this Nine Patch Rails quilt, and I recognize several of her fabrics.  Noreen has this wonderful habit of using the fabric remains of her previous quilts quickly, which I think is a great way to keep the scraps managed.  I love the pebbles fabric, and the stonehenges.

for the quilting, I used Christina Cameli's wavy swirl.  I think it looks like water rippling above the rocks in a shallow stream (I get fanciful while quilting sometimes, repetition frees the brain :P)

Handprints

This is such a marvelous quilt!  Nancy and her sister Peg organized the ENTIRE extended family to each put a handprint on a block...and then assembled it for their mothers 90th Birthday.

 The label was a block.

 Blocks were left for Dorothy and her husband (it was a surprise at the birthday party), and they have since placed their handprints on the quilt.

I"m disappointed the house block is blurry--it represents the home Dorothy's children grew up in.  The house was only sold this year, so it is very fitting to have it on the quilt.

 Hands can be hard with little ones--they don't like to unclench them, so these would be Great Grandchild's feet.  I love the smear of blue on the side of the block--even feet can be tricky with babies.  What a great time capsule

 I love the creativity with the two-toned hand. 

 and for family members that have passed, there were line drawings.  What a special way to include them.